More than 5500 merchant seamen lost in action against the enemy! Fellow Americans, give them your answer
National Maritime Day sheet: a charcoal-style drawing of a ship exploding at sea and a lifeboat of survivors, a casualty figure in a tilted label, and a helmeted merchant seaman in the foreground. The technique (fear-appeal through loss imagery) is faint; the main ask is an unspecified 'answer' from the public.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- National Maritime Day observance (issuer not printed)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Commemorate
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
National Maritime Day sheet. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1368 (NAID 515022).
Text on the object
MORE THAN 5500 Merchant Seamen Lost in Action Against the Enemy! Fellow Americans— Give Them Your Answer! NATIONAL MARITIME DAY MAY 22, 1944
